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ʻŌmaʻo
The ōmao (''Myadestes obscurus''), also called the Hawaiian thrush, is an endemism in birds, endemic species of robin-like bird found only on the island of Hawaii (island), Hawaii. Ōmao are closely related to the other endemic thrushes of the Hawaiian Islands, the kāmao, the olomao, and the puaiohi. Ōmao are found primarily in rainforests in the eastern and southeastern regions of the Big Island. Population estimates approximate 170,000 birds, making it the most common of the Hawaiian thrushes. It appears to have a stable population, but because the entire population exists on a small range and is endemic to a single island, it is considered near threatened. Taxonomy The ʻōmaʻo was Species description, formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the flycatchers in the genus ''Muscicapa'' and coined the binomial nomenclature, binomial name ''Muscicapa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myadestes
''Myadestes'' is a genus of Solitaire (bird), solitaires, medium-sized mostly Insectivore, insectivorous birds in the thrush (bird), thrush family, Turdidae. They are found in the Americas and Hawaii, Hawaii, where several island species have become Extinction, extinct. Taxonomy The genus ''Myadestes'' was introduced in 1838 by the English naturalist William Swainson to accommodate a single species, the rufous-throated solitaire, which is therefore the type species of the genus. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek ''mua'' meaning "fly" and ''edestēs'' meaning "eater". The genus contains 13 species: References {{Taxonbar, from=Q1088544 Myadestes, Bird genera Birds of the Americas Taxa named by William Swainson ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Swainson
William Swainson Fellow of the Linnean Society, FLS, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, Malacology, malacologist, Conchology, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swainson was born in Dover Place, St Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of John Timothy Swainson, an original fellow of the Linnean Society of London, Linnean Society. He was a cousin of the amateur botanist Isaac Swainson.Etymologisches Worterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen by H. Genaust. Review by Paul A. Fryxell ''Taxon'', Vol. 38(2), 245–246 (1989). His father's family originated in Lancashire, and both his grandfather and father held high posts in Her Majesty's Customs, his father becoming Collector at Liverpool. William, whose formal education was curtailed because of an speech impediment, impediment in his speech, joined the Liverpool Customs as a junior clerk at the age of 14."William Swainson F.R.S, F.L.S., Naturalist and Arti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invasive Plant
An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species that become harmful to their native environment after human alterations to its food web. Since the 20th century, invasive species have become serious economic, social, and environmental threats worldwide. Invasion of long-established ecosystems by organisms is a natural phenomenon, but human-facilitated introductions have greatly increased the rate, scale, and geographic range of invasion. For millennia, humans have served as both accidental and deliberate dispersal agents, beginning with their earliest migrations, accelerating in the Age of Discovery, and accelerating again with the spread of international trade. Notable invasive plant species include the kudzu vine, giant hogweed (''Heracleum mantegazzianum''), Japanese knotwe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Habitat Destruction
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease in biodiversity and species numbers. Habitat destruction is in fact the leading cause of biodiversity loss and species extinction worldwide. Humans contribute to habitat destruction through the use of natural resources, agriculture, industrial production and urbanization (urban sprawl). Other activities include mining, logging and trawling. Environmental factors can contribute to habitat destruction more indirectly. Geological processes, climate change, introduction of invasive species, ecosystem nutrient depletion, water and noise pollution are some examples. Loss of habitat can be preceded by an initial habitat fragmentation. Fragmentation and loss of habitat have become one of the most important topics of research in ecology as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avian Malaria
Avian malaria is a parasitic disease of birds, caused by parasite species belonging to the genera ''Plasmodium'' and '' Hemoproteus'' (phylum Apicomplexa, class Haemosporidia, family Plasmoiidae). The disease is transmitted by a dipteran vector including mosquitoes in the case of ''Plasmodium'' parasites and biting midges for ''Hemoproteus.'' The range of symptoms and effects of the parasite on its bird hosts is very wide, from asymptomatic cases to drastic population declines due to the disease, as is the case of the Hawaiian honeycreepers. The diversity of parasites is large, as it is estimated that there are approximately as many parasites as there are species of hosts. As research on human malaria parasites became difficult, Dr. Ross studied avian malaria parasites. Co-speciation and host switching events have contributed to the broad range of hosts that these parasites can infect, causing avian malaria to be a widespread global disease, found everywhere except Antarctica. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banana Poka
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a peel, which may have a variety of colors when ripe. It grows upward in clusters near the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless ( parthenocarp) cultivated bananas come from two wild species – '' Musa acuminata'' and '' Musa balbisiana'', or hybrids of them. ''Musa'' species are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia; they were probably domesticated in New Guinea. They are grown in 135 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make banana paper and textiles, while some are grown as ornamental plants. The world's largest producers of banan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ohia
''Metrosideros polymorpha'', the ''ōhia lehua'',; is a species of flowering evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that is endemic to the six largest islands of Hawaii. It is a member of the diverse ''Metrosideros'' genus, which are widespread over the southwest Pacific. It is the state tree of Hawai'i. It is a highly variable tree, being tall in favorable situations, and a much smaller prostrate shrub when growing in boggy soils or directly on basalt. It produces a brilliant display of flowers, made up of a mass of stamens, which can range from fiery red to yellow. Many native Hawaiian traditions refer to the tree and the forests it forms as sacred to Pele, the volcano goddess, and to Laka, the goddess of hula. Ōhia trees grow easily on lava, and are usually the first plants to grow on new lava flows. ''Metrosideros polymorpha'' is commonly called a ''lehua'' tree, or an ''ōhia lehua'', or simply an ''ōhia''; all are correct, although ''ōhia'' is also used to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mauna Loa
Mauna Loa (, ; ) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Mauna Loa is Earth's largest active volcano by both mass and volume. It was historically considered to be the largest volcano on Earth until the submarine mountain Tamu Massif was discovered to be larger. Mauna Loa is a shield volcano with relatively gentle slopes, and a volume estimated at , although its peak is about lower than that of its neighbor, Mauna Kea. Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid, and tend to be non-explosive. Mauna Loa has likely been erupting for at least 700,000 years, and may have emerged above sea level about 400,000 years ago. Some dated rocks are 470,000 years old. The volcano's magma comes from the Hawaii hotspot, which has been responsible for the creation of the Hawaiian Island chain over tens of millions of years. The slow drift of the Pacific Plate will eventually carry Mauna Lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawaiian Tropical High Shrublands
The Hawaiian tropical high shrublands are a tropical savanna ecoregion in the Hawaiian Islands. Geography The high shrublands ecoregion covers an area of on the upper slopes of the volcanoes Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Hualālai, and Haleakalā. Flora The plant communities include open shrublands, grasslands, and deserts. Shrubland species include āheahea ('' Chenopodium oahuense''), ōhelo ai (''Vaccinium reticulatum''), naenae ('' Dubautia menziesii''), and iliahi (''Santalum haleakalae''). Alpine grasslands are dominated by tussock grasses, such as ''Deschampsia nubigena'', ''Eragrostis atropioides'', ''Panicum tenuifolium'', and pili uka ('' Trisetum glomeratum''). Deserts occur on the coldest and driest peaks, where only extremely hardy plants such as āhinahina ('' Argyroxiphium sandwicense'') and ''Dubautia'' species are able to grow. Fauna The nēnē ('' Branta sandvicensis'') is one of the few birds found in alpine shrublands, while uau ('' Pterodroma sandwichensis' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawaiian Tropical Rainforests
The Hawaiian tropical rainforests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Hawaiian Islands. They cover an area of in the windward lowlands and montane regions of the islands. Coastal mesic forests are found at elevations from sea level to . Mixed mesic forests occur at elevations of , while wet forests are found from . Moist bogs and shrublands exist on montane plateaus and depressions. For the 28 million years of existence of the Hawaiian Islands, they have been isolated from the rest of the world by vast stretches of the Pacific Ocean, and this isolation has resulted in the evolution of an incredible diversity of endemic species, including fungi, mosses, snails, birds, and other wildlife. In the lush, moist forests high in the mountains, trees are draped with vines, orchids, ferns, and mosses. This ecoregion includes one of the world's wettest places, the slopes of Mount Waialeale, which average of rainfall per year. Coastal mesic forests Coastal mesic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tree Fern
Tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk (botany), trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae (scaly tree ferns), Dicksoniaceae, Metaxyaceae, and Cibotiaceae. It is estimated that Cyatheales originated in the early Jurassic, and is the third group of ferns known to have given rise to tree-like forms. The others are the extinct ''Tempskya'' of uncertain position, and Osmundales where the extinct Guaireaceae and some members of Osmundaceae also grew into trees. In addition there were the Psaroniaceae including ''Tietea'' in the Marattiaceae, Marattiales, which is the sister group to all the leptosporangiate ferns. Other ferns which are also tree ferns, are ''Leptopteris'' and ''Todea'' in the family Osmundaceae, which can achieve short trunks under a metre tall. Osmunda regalis is sometimes considered a tree fern. Fern species with s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frugivores
A frugivore ( ) is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts and seeds. Approximately 20% of mammalian herbivores eat fruit. Frugivores are highly dependent on the abundance and nutritional composition of fruits. Frugivores can benefit or hinder fruit-producing plants by either dispersing or destroying their seeds through digestion. When both the fruit-producing plant and the frugivore benefit by fruit-eating behavior the interaction is a form of mutualism. Frugivore seed dispersal Seed dispersal is important for plants because it allows their progeny to move away from their parents over time. The advantages of seed dispersal may have led to the evolution of fleshy fruits, which entice animals to consume them and move the plant's seeds from place to place. While many fruit-producing plant species would not disperse far without frugivores, their seeds can usually germinate even if they fall to the ground dire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
